After my trip yesterday, I headed back inland and up into the mountains just to the west of Wollongong. Barren Grounds Nature Reserve is located in these mountains and preserves a significant portion of heathland that is quite important to a number of bird species. The two most well known birds found here are the endangered Eastern Bristlebird and the hard to see Ground Parrot. Both of these birds requireoo healthy, unburnt heathland and can be found at Barren Grounds but it is by no means easy. Heathland is a very dense habitat composed of small shrubs. These birds thrive in the dense foliage and getting a glimpse of the birds is very difficult. I don't expect to see, much less photograph, the Ground Parrots but I do hope to get oimages of the Eastern Bristlebird.
This morning, I was joined by Chris Ross who I had photographed with back in August in Sydney. We set out to see how we could do despite an overcast morning. Without too much trouble we were able to locate a pair of bristlebirds just to the side of the track. We were able to get some good views of the bird but it did a fantastic job of almost always keeping a godo bit of foliage between him and us. I finally was able to fire off one frame where he was pretty much unobstructed but it isn't the definitive image I am hoping for. It does show a good bit of habitat though.
After a while, we moved on and with the wind picking we left the heathland to explore the local area. Chris knew his way around so he took me to various spots and waterfalls through the afternoon. It was quite an enjoyable afternoon and always a pleasure to spend time with Chris as he has a wealth of knowledge about the local flora as well as fauna.
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